WASHINGTON -- US President Donald Trump discussed North Korea with two of his top officials on Monday as tensions rose over the communist country's missile and nuclear programs.Trump had an hour-long phone call with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Chief of Staff John Kelly to talk about North Korea and Tillerson's ongoing trip to Southeast Asia, White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters said, according to a pool report. Details of the discussion were not immediately available. US President Do

North Korea Aug. 8, 2017

The number of convenience stores are on the rise, and is likely to continue to increase despite slackening profits from an overcrowded market, industry watchers said Tuesday.South Korea had 34,376 such stores as of the end of last year. With the country's population counted at approximately 50.12 million, it translates into one store per 1,491 people. This is 1.5 times more than neighboring Japan, where the industry took root long before South Korea. Japan has one store for every 2,226 people.So

Industry Aug. 8, 2017

North Korea's top diplomat said Monday that there will be no negotiations on its nuclear and missile programs unless the United States gives up its hostile policy toward Pyongyang. North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho also told a regional security forum in Manila that the North will not budge in its pursuit of strengthening its nuclear and missile capabilities. His spokesman released the transcript of his remarks at the ASEAN Regional Forum to reporters at a hotel where Ri was staying. "We w

North Korea Aug. 8, 2017

Unionized workers at Hyundai Motor Co. on Monday said they will stage partial strikes in an apparent bid to put pressure on management amid the on-going wage deal.Workers will stage four-hour strikes on Thursday and Aug. 14. The walkouts will run from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., and from 8:20 p.m. to 10:20 p.m.The workers said they will not work overtime on weekends until an agreement with management is reached.The unionized workers are currently demanding a monthly wage increase of 154,833 won ($1

Industry Aug. 8, 2017

The leaders of South Korea and Japan agreed Monday to put maximum pressure on North Korea until the reclusive state chooses the right path of dialogue, Seoul's presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said."President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held a telephone conversation today and shared their views on the seriousness of the security conditions on the Korean Peninsula following North Korea's repeated provocations," Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Park Soo-hyun told reporters. The talk

North Korea Aug. 7, 2017

President Moon Jae-in replaced the chief of the state defense procurement agency Monday as he accelerates a drive to reform the big government spender accused of corruption.Jeon Jei-guk, a former defense ministry official, was named to head the Defense Acquisition Program Administration, according to the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae.The 64-year-old served various posts at the defense ministry since joining the ministry in 1980. Jeon Jei-guk (Photo courtesy of Cheong Wa Dae) (Yonhap)His appo

Defense Aug. 7, 2017

Top diplomats from South Korea, the United States and Japan promised on Monday to cooperate to ensure a full implementation of new United Nations sanctions against North Korea. South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha met with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono in Manila on the sidelines of meetings hosted by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.  (Yonhap)"The foreign ministers of the three countries shared the view that the North's two ballisti

Foreign Affairs Aug. 7, 2017

South Korea plans to call for the use of the term East Sea for the body of water lying between the nation and Japan in an upcoming United Nations meeting on geographical names, the foreign ministry here said Monday."Since our delegation first proposed the issue of East Sea naming at the sixth meeting of UN Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names in 1992, (Korea) has called for the dual use of East Sea and the Sea of Japan," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said."Also in the upcomi

Foreign Affairs Aug. 7, 2017

Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon called Monday for greater efforts to help North Korean defectors assimilate into South Korean society, saying their successful resettlement will lay the groundwork for eventual unification of the divided Korean Peninsula.Lee made the remark during a visit to the Committee for the Five Northern Korean Provinces, a symbolic committee comprising "governors" of provinces in North Korea, saying that word about how defectors live in the South will spread across the border."I

Politics Aug. 7, 2017

South Korean marines fired a Spike surface-to-surface missile and more than 200 artillery rounds from K9 self-propelled howitzers, staging a "routine" exercise near the tense western border with North Korea.According to the Marine Corps, the live-fire drills also involved AH-1S Cobra's 2.75-inch rockets, hosted by the Northwest Islands Defense Command in charge of defending the South's northernmost islands in the Yellow Sea, and the 6th Brigade."Conducted in our waters south of the Northern Limi

Defense Aug. 7, 2017

WeWork, a global shared office space provider, said Monday it will invest a combined $500 million in South Korea and Southeast Asia as it attempts to expand its presence in the Asian market. Under the expansion plan, the New York-based company has appointed Matt Shampine, currently head of Marketing and Revenue for Asia, as the General Manager of Korea.  "Today's announcement reaffirms WeWork's commitment to scaling our business across Asia," Miguel McKelvey, co-founder of WeWork,

Economy Aug. 7, 2017

JEJU -- A highly invasive macroalgae species which has impacted the waters off South Korea's largest island of Jeju comes from an east Chinese archipelago, a local think tank said Monday.The South Korean resort island is plagued in spring and summer by inflows of the alien seaweed, known as Sargassum horneri, which smells bad and ruins the landscape.In a report, the Jeju Research Institute confirmed that the algae drifts into Jeju waters from the Zhoushan Islands, an archipelago in the east Chin

Social Affairs Aug. 7, 2017

Korea Electric Power Corp., a major public utility firm in South Korea, said Monday that its net profit dropped almost 80 percent in the second quarter of the year from a year earlier due to increased fuel costs.Net profit reached 359 billion won ($318 million) on a consolidated basis in the April-June period, compared to a profit of 1.77 trillion won a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing.Operating income also sank 69 percent on-year to 847 billion won, with sales also down 2.6

Industry Aug. 7, 2017

Ahn Cheol-soo, the former presidential candidate of the minor opposition People's Party, rejected growing calls to retract his leadership bid Monday, renewing his vow to salvage the party beset by internal division and dismal public support.Since Ahn expressed his intention to run in the Aug. 27 leadership election Thursday, opponents have pressured him to stay low-key at least for the time being to take responsibility for the defeat in the presidential election in May and a crippling fake tip-o

Politics Aug. 7, 2017

SEOUL/MANILA -- The top diplomats of South Korea and Russia agreed on Monday to step up bilateral cooperation for the implementation of a new United Nations Security Council resolution against North Korea during their talks in Manila, the Philippines, the South Korean foreign ministry said.During their meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN Regional Forum, Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov hailed Resolution 2371, which they said would be a landmark achievem

Foreign Affairs Aug. 7, 2017